Verstappen explains why he lost to Bottas at the beginning of the sprint – and speaks of a fine of 50,000 euros

With a slower start than Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen lost his lead in the Formula 1 sprint, so that the Mercedes driver drove into Turn 1.

Verstappen started on P1 for the sprint on medium-sized tires after Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from qualifying with a DRS violation on his Mercedes. This meant that Bottas shared the front row on Saturday evening and the Finn enjoyed a brilliant start on soft tires, while Verstappen briefly dropped to third place on lap 1 of the Grand Prix.

READ MORE: Bottas wins the F1 sprint and takes pole for the Sao Paulo GP while Hamilton fights back from last to P5

The World Championship leader explained why he started more slowly than Bottas than he remembered: “We started with the medium tire, I think the track too [temperature] We liked it a little more than we thought it would, and I also somehow lost all of my gear synchronization, so my start on these tires wasn’t that great. But when we switched up we had a terrible shift. All in all, that didn’t work for me.

“Then of course I dropped to third on the first lap, but after that I think the pace was okay, but you can’t overtake here. the tires overheat very quickly and then you get stuck. Especially when the cars are close together in terms of pace, you can’t do much in a sprint without a pit stop, so I basically just sat in the back. “

2021 São Paulo GP F1 Sprint: Bottas leads Verstappen at the start in Brazil

When asked if he had a chance to overtake Bottas late in the race when the soft tires were wearing out, Verstappen said there was little chance as he finished second, 1.1 seconds back.

“Not really,” replied the Dutchman. “When you are in the back [and you] You follow your tires are even warmer because you are trying to get closer to the DRS. It didn’t look like Valtteri was worried how close I was. “

Not only was Hamilton disqualified from qualifying, but Verstappen also had to pay a fine of 50,000 euros when the FIA ​​stewards saw his thorough inspection of the Mercedes rear wing in Parc Ferme cloudy on Friday evening.

“It’s a pretty heavy fine,” he said, “so I hope you have a nice dinner and lots of wine. I hope good, expensive wine that would be nice. You can also invite me to dinner – I’ll pay for the food too.

“I have to pay, so that’s a little less FIFA points on my laptop for me,” he joked.

Verstappen goes into the Sao Paulo Grand Prix with a 21-point buffer in the drivers’ standings, ahead of Hamilton, who starts the race from 10th place.